There is a growing consumer preference for food, beverage and household products packaged in plastic containers. This is because plastic containers offer the consumer a number of convenient benefits including, but not limited to, portability, resealability, safety, light weight and contourability for a comfortable grip.
Plastic containers, however, pose several challenges for packaged goods companies and label manufacturers. One of the main reasons for this is that plastic containers are particularly durable and can withstand more demanding consumer environments, such as an ice chest, as well as withstand a drop to the ground of perhaps six feet or more. Further, a plastic container's portability means it can be used and the product consumed over a long period of time including days or weeks, not hours.
For label manufacturers, this means packaged goods companies prefer labels to be 100% waterproof, 100% scuff-proof, extremely durable, resistant to scuffing and product deterioration, able to withstand drops of six feet or more without tearing and be aesthetically pleasing to the consumer's eye and touch for the life of the use of the plastic container. Unfortunately, no state of the art label capable of use with existing cut and stack labeling equipment offers all of these desired performance features in a cost effective manner.
State of the art label solutions for plastic containers generally fall into four categories, poly/paper, poly/poly, aqueous coated synthetic and ultraviolet (UV) coated synthetic. An example of a state of the art poly/paper label is a lightweight clear polypropylene film laminated to C1S paper. The clear polypropylene film provides an attractive high gloss appearance. The film lamination also provides durability for scuff protection and passing drop tests. Due to its incorporation of a paper layer, however, the poly/paper label is not waterproof. Accordingly, when subjected to humid or wet environments, the label has a tendency to curl and/or to deteriorate.
An example of a poly/poly label is a lightweight clear polypropylene film laminated to a lightweight white opaque polypropylene film printing stock. The clear polypropylene film provides an attractive high gloss appearance and durability for scuff protection and passing drop tests. The 100% film nature of the construction provides the label with 100% waterproof properties. However, poly/poly labels are available only in roll fed label form and thus are limited to use by packaged goods companies that own and/or operate roll fed labeling equipment. As presently manufactured, poly/poly labels are not stiff enough and lack sufficient anti-static properties to run in existing cut and stack labeling equipment.
An example of an aqueous coated synthetic label is a single layer heavyweight bright white polypropylene film that is aqueous coated. The 100% film nature of the construction provides the label with 100% waterproof properties. However, an aqueous coated synthetic label does not have the high gloss appearance or scuff resistance properties of laminated labels and, accordingly, does not provide a complete answer to the needs of the packaged goods manufacturer.
An example of a UV coated synthetic label is a single layer of heavyweight bright white polypropylene film printing stock that is ultraviolet coated. Again, the 100% film nature of the construction provides the label with 100% waterproof properties. While the UV coated synthetic label does have a higher gloss appearance and improved scuff and product resistance properties when compared to an aqueous coated synthetic label due to the use of an ultraviolet coating, it does not offer the same degree of gloss and scuff protection as the film lamination label. This shortcoming along with the high cost of ultraviolet inks and coatings means that UV coated synthetic labels also fail to meet all the needs of the packaged goods manufacturer.
A need is therefore identified for an improved label for packaged goods manufacturers that provides all the desired properties in a cost effective label that is stiff enough and has sufficient anti-static properties to reliably and efficiently run in existing cut and stack labeling equipment.